Economic Governance and Management 475. The CRM congratulates the government on the structural reforms it introduced for the productive sectors of the economy. It emphasised particularly developing appropriate sector strategies and increased investments in promising sectors in order to improve business competitiveness. It also initiated the restructuring of the traditional sugar, textile and tourism sectors to reduce costs. Further, it established a legal and administrative framework favourable for offshore financial services. The construction of an ultramodern platform, cabled by optic fibre, stimulates FDI in the ICT sectors. The government also made major investments in fisheries, sea farming, transport, energy and environmental infrastructure. 476. An ambitious strategy for building capacity for highly qualified human resources has also been developed. This will accompany the development of the information technology and financial services sectors. 477. The CRM acknowledges the relevance of government’s measures to improve the business climate. One of the key measures it adopted, within the framework of the 2006/2007 budget, was to ease the procedures for obtaining licences or permits for establishing or managing businesses. It did this by introducing a one-stop shop to register businesses and to convert the Board of Investment (BOI) into a facilitation and promotion body. Other measures for simplifying the administrative and regulatory procedures have been adopted in various areas. 478. The government has also adopted measures to improve labour productivity. It has developed strategies aimed at promoting university education and encouraging vocational training programmes, especially in areas that require scarce and specialised skills. Moreover, the government has created a regulatory and administrative framework favourable to qualified foreign staff. It adopted measures that encourage recruiting qualified staff from abroad, simplifying the procedures for employing qualified foreign workers and easing the procedures for issuing tourist visas. Finally, the government is considering measures to encourage the Mauritian Diaspora to return to work in the country. 479. 192 Chapter 4 The government should integrate these measures with a global process of liberalising the job market in order to consolidate flexibility and align salaries to productivity. The government also plans to modernise the management and administration of the land sector, Chapter 4 Economic Governance and Management especially at the level of the cadastral system and administration of land titles. 480. The government has finally developed policies and strategies to promote the democratisation of the economy concept. They are intended to safeguard social cohesion and promote inclusive participation and stability. The government developed them to protect the people against the effects of liberalisation and the structural transformation of the economy, while pursuing an aggressive strategy of reducing poverty and promoting equitable human development (see the CRM analysis under objective 1 above). 481. The government is already implementing most of these reforms, especially those in respect of public finance, and it has developed strategies for some sectors. However, in order to achieve its objectives, it must develop these strategies and action plans for those sectors identified as pillars for diversifying and reviving the economy and in the social and economic sectors that the people rely on for survival. Even in sectors where these policies are developed, it is necessary to integrate them with a more coherent global macroeconomic framework that will move the economy into the future, in an organised and well-coordinated manner, while involving all segments of the economy. The CRM therefore appreciates the efforts of the government aimed at involving all the social sectors in preparing the budget. Indeed, through organised structures, which represent the different components of society, the government shows that it wants to include other stakeholders in choosing policy priorities. However, the participative mechanisms described by the CSAR are limited to a few groups that do not represent communities or unions. It is important to note that, during the interactive meetings, grass-roots populations, trade unions and small enterprise associations pointed out that they are not always invited to these consultative forums on policies. Apex organisations, like the Joint Economic Council (JEC), are not always inclusive or transparent. Unless there is true representative participation, the expected results will not be achieved. 482. In the same vein, the CRM congratulates the government for establishing a modern communication infrastructure to facilitate the access of the public to information published on websites. During interactive sessions, the CRM was informed, however, that access to the information posted on websites is still very limited. 193